You must obtain a building permit from the building department before making the following changes to your house:
- Installing or replacing siding
- Adding a bedroom or bathroom
- Adding an addition
- Interior alterations
- Constructing a deck
- Enclosing a porch
- Installing a dishwasher
- Replacing an electric stove with a gas stove
- Finishing a basement
- New kitchen
- Central air conditioning
- New wiring
- New furnace, boiler, or hot water heater
- All swimming pools
- Erecting a fence or replacing an existing fence
- Installing or replacing a sidewalk
- Chimney repairs
- Installing electrical outlets
- Increasing power service to a building
- New roof or roof repairs
- New sidewalks along public streets
- Porch and stair repairs
- New retaining walls
- Installing hard-surface driveways
- Creating additional off-street parking
- Pipe leaders to existing storm drains
- Erection of utility buildings/sheds
- Demolition of any building
- Water heaters
- Water softeners

. . . AND WHEN YOU DON'T

You don't need a permit for ordinary repairs on a one or two-family dwelling. These changes include:
- Repairing roofing or siding material with like material, if the area does not exceed 25 percent of the roof within a year
- Repairing and replacing duct work
- Installing floor material, including carpeting
- Painting the exterior or interior
- Replacing any window or door, if no change in the dimensions or framing of the opening is involved
- Covering walls, plastering or placing a drywall on an existing wall, if the area does not exceed 25 percent in one year
- Replacing glass in any window or door, if the replacement glass conforms to minimum requirements
- Replacing any faucet or valve, if the piping system doesn't have to be rearranged